Paranoid Police Defamed Him, Man Says

NEW ORLEANS (CN) – A man claims Terrebonne Parish and a Houma police officer warned school districts that he was “essentially a child predator” because the cop saw him resting after a 2-mile run on a public jogging path near a school.

Ronald Stuard, 47, says he took a break after a 2-mile run on a public jogging path near St. Gregory’s School, where students were playing sports. Stuard says a teacher asked him what he was doing and though he told her “he was merely resting between running intervals on the public track, the teacher called police.” Stuard says Houma city police came and told him not to go there again. Then, he says, Houma police, including defendant Officer Angela Domangue, sent his photo, birth date and information about the car he drove to “several schools in the parish.” “The communication also indicated that Mr. Stuard had been ‘watching school children outside.’ It further indicated that if Mr. Stuard was seen near the recipient’s school, he or she should contact the Houma Police Department,” Stuard’s complaint states. “The communications further indicated that the police department recognized that Mr. Stuard was not a registered sex offender, but that they wanted to ‘keep the kids safe’ and ‘be in his face’ if he was near a school. “These actions by the defendants resulted in Ronald Stuard being named and published as essentially a child predator.” Stuard demands damages for defamation and privacy invasion. He is represented in Federal Court by R. Glenn Cater.